In my experience, it takes somewhere between four days and a week to drive coast to coast across the USA. Depends on where you go, how often you stop, and what kitschy tourist things you want to do.

In my experience, a coast-to-coast drive can be done in 48 hours.

That, of course, include few stops and no touristy things.

The furthest I've gone was from East Stroudsburg, PA to Appleton, WI (about the same distance as going from Naples to Paris) in 13 hours, about 1 hour total of stop time between gas stops and food. I was meeting up with some guys I used to play MajorMUD with, even though I had never seen their faces, it was like back in '99. Those were the REAL scary days of interweb meetups:

We used to drive from upstate South Carolina to the southern edge of South Dakota to visit relations. It took two days with rest stops, but no tourist traps, depending on traffic (or blizzards).
Of course, one could power through it in one go if you're willing to put up with an 18+ hour drive.

I can barely get across the Columbia river in one day if I stay on I5. And that's 20 miles away._________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

In my experience, it takes somewhere between four days and a week to drive coast to coast across the USA. Depends on where you go, how often you stop, and what kitschy tourist things you want to do.

In my experience, a coast-to-coast drive can be done in 48 hours.

That, of course, include few stops and no touristy things.

or sleep.

it is possible to get...well, no, i don't think you can get from one end of california to the other in one day. even if you stay on I-5.

especially if you stay on I-5.

I did that run in 48 hours twice, back in the 90's, leaving from San Bernardino, CA and driving back to the DC area, by taking I-15 to Barstow, then I-40 across the country to VA. The end of the route was up I-81, then I-66 to the DC metro area.

By leaving in the evening (~6pm Pacific time) and driving like a bat-out-of-hell, you can be outside Amarillo by morning. I would sleep until early afternoon, then drive til around Memphis. Stop again for some more sleep, then up early the next morning to finish the trip. I would arrive home late in the evening. With the three hour time change, it worked out to just about 48 hours both times.

Google maps says it's 37 hours driving time. Given that I tended to exceed the speed limit, especially during that first night driving through the deserted parts of AZ and NM, I was probably getting 6-7 hours sleep each time I stopped. The rest of the slack time was taken up by fuel and bio needs._________________The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- Charles Darwin

I-40 across AZ and NM, at night, is easy to drive very fast. I mean, the posted speed limit is around 70 or 75. I was usually going 100+._________________The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- Charles Darwin

I-40 across AZ and NM, at night, is easy to drive very fast. I mean, the posted speed limit is around 70 or 75. I was usually going 100+.

So you can totally do the trip in two days if you break the law?

Obviously if you're in a race you can do things fast, but I figure most people aren't in a race and therefore take travel times and distances in the "can reasonably do" sense. If time is of the essence you can just take a plane or demand the place comes to you.

But I don't like making haste in general. We did coast to coast in about two weeks (little more) and I thought that was going too fast. And that was in an RV where you can relax a bit when not driving instead of being sandwiched between smelly people in an uncomfortable position._________________

I'm always extremely sceptical of proposed time savings from speeding.

Getting out the door ten minutes earlier is always faster than driving ten mph over the speed limit, is less stressful, and uses less gas, too. Speeds faster than ten over simply can't be maintained. There are always external factors slowing you down.
I'm not sure whether I'm more annoyed or amused when someone speeds past me in order to get to a red stop light five seconds sooner (net time saved by speeding: zero).

A several thousand mile trip across empty desert interstate is pretty much the only situation where I would ever believe that anyone saved a significant amount of time by speeding. Still, I think the majority of the 'time saved' on Jinx's two-day(self-reported)-trip can be attributed to the extremely short rest breaks.

If you have two+ people driving and one sleeps while the other drives, getting across the country in two days becomes a bit more reasonable, although remaining in a sitting position for that long is still pretty miserable. Even in a relative hurry and with a second driver, I'd rather stretch the trip out to three days to allow for more time to stretch my legs, or four+ days to be able to get some actual rest and stretch my legs.
If you absolutely need to get there faster than that, then yeah, like Snorri said, take a plane. It's safer, and unless the car is packed, often cheaper, too._________________butts

I'm always extremely sceptical of proposed time savings from speeding.

Getting out the door ten minutes earlier is always faster than driving ten mph over the speed limit, is less stressful, and uses less gas, too. Speeds faster than ten over simply can't be maintained. There are always external factors slowing you down.
I'm not sure whether I'm more annoyed or amused when someone speeds past me in order to get to a red stop light five seconds sooner (net time saved by speeding: zero).

A several thousand mile trip across empty desert interstate is pretty much the only situation where I would ever believe that anyone saved a significant amount of time by speeding. Still, I think the majority of the 'time saved' on Jinx's two-day(self-reported)-trip can be attributed to the extremely short rest breaks.

If you have two+ people driving and one sleeps while the other drives, getting across the country in two days becomes a bit more reasonable, although remaining in a sitting position for that long is still pretty miserable. Even in a relative hurry and with a second driver, I'd rather stretch the trip out to three days to allow for more time to stretch my legs, or four+ days to be able to get some actual rest and stretch my legs.
If you absolutely need to get there faster than that, then yeah, like Snorri said, take a plane. It's safer, and unless the car is packed, often cheaper, too.

It really depends. There's ways to speed effectively and not to. First off, you're assuming speeds of only +10. If I'm speeding it's usually around the +20 range i.e. enough to make a difference. If I go the speed limit, it takes 15 minutes to get to the store. If I "speed", it takes about 7-8 minutes. However, it needs to be noted that A LOT of the roads around here have ridiculously low speed limits. A road could say be 55 for years. Someone has an accident, while drunk and doing 90, and the speed is changed to 40. There are roads with speed limits of 25 that have been completely redone, and where comparable roads elsewhere have speed limits of 40-45. Also, you're underestimating red lights. I've had anywhere from a 5 minute to a 15 minute difference in commutes due to red lights, especially when working over nights and I have to wait for some of the 3 minute long lights.

BTW only state police in PA can use radar and any police can not wait with their lights off in the dark -- it's entrapment.

No, I'm not going to waste days worth of time every year driving or sitting at work waiting to clock in. And if you're worried about driving being safe, well don't drive.

My general rule is seven over. Gets you there moderately faster, and you never get pulled over for only seven over (unless you're doing something really stupid)._________________The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

The Cannonball Run speed record is apparently 28 hours and 50 minutes. If you go NYC to LA. So, assuming you A) go as fast as the record-setting drivers in the Cannonball Run, and B) go less far, you could knock some time off of it..._________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

I'm always extremely sceptical of proposed time savings from speeding.

Getting out the door ten minutes earlier is always faster than driving ten mph over the speed limit, is less stressful, and uses less gas, too. Speeds faster than ten over simply can't be maintained. There are always external factors slowing you down.
I'm not sure whether I'm more annoyed or amused when someone speeds past me in order to get to a red stop light five seconds sooner (net time saved by speeding: zero).

For short trips around the local area, you're correct. In a 10 - 15 mile trip, the difference in speed will make little difference. On a trip of 2600 - 2700 miles, even +10 mph can turn into a significant time savings.

Quote:

A several thousand mile trip across empty desert interstate is pretty much the only situation where I would ever believe that anyone saved a significant amount of time by speeding. Still, I think the majority of the 'time saved' on Jinx's two-day(self-reported)-trip can be attributed to the extremely short rest breaks.

You're overlooking the fact that I stopped for ~7 hours twice. Look at a map of the US. Getting from my starting point to Amarillo by morning is what makes the trip manageable. It makes it possible to drive at much more reasonable speeds, through more congested areas, and complete the trip on time, and with reasonable breaks for fuel and sleep.

S.Bdo to Amarillo is 100+ miles. Google maps says it's a 14-1/2 hr drive. I was making it in about 10 hours._________________The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- Charles Darwin